|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:37 pm
 Vierkacha peered out from the corner of a building, her red eyes narrowing in on the sounds of adults near the entrance of the city. She inched closer, making sure not to be heard or seen. She had no idea who they were or why they were there. She definitely didn't want to be grabbed by slavers..if that's what they were.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the adults were loading up a caravan. There hadn't been a caravan in Ched Nasad for as long as she could remember. Probably not since the whole duergar invasion had happened and half the city had fallen into ruins. What hadn't been destroyed was now a ghost town.
She licked her cracking lips and wrinkled her forehead in thought. There had to be some way she could get a place on the caravan. There really wasn't much left in Ched Nasad and she didn't want to be stuck in the deserted ruins any longer. She fingered the pouch of rubies and diamonds that she and her pet dragon, Gem had recovered.
As if sensing her thoughts, a bright green scaled head emerged from the inside of her shirt and peeked up at her. Vier smiled, scratched Gem behind the eyes and then pushed him back into his hiding place. She could probably get a ride on the caravan if she paid them in what she had and a promise to find more along the way. They didn't need to know that she had a dragon that did the actual finding. Vier figured if they did know they'd probably steal him from her.
Vier stood up and strode up to the caravan purposely and put her hands on her hips. "Who's in charge?" She demanded in a brash loud tone causing several of the adults to startle and go for their weapons.
Vier raised an eyebrow at those that did and waited. "Well?"
A thin drow wearing a gem dangling from one ear and some dark purple pants eyed her closely and then spoke with a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Who wants to know?"
Vier scowled, and turned with a huff. "I guess you're really not interested in gaining the temporary skills of a gem finder."
Vier wasn't sure if her gamble would work or not, but she damn well hoped it did. She knew coming off as too eager would only make her seem like a child, when she was much more than that despite her young age.
"Gem finder? Now what would that be?" The drow asked, with a hint of laughter in his voice.
Vier turned and rolled her eyes and pulled her pouch off her belt. She tipped it into one hand, letting a few of her gems fall into the palm of her hand.
"A Gem finder is someone who locates gems like this." She explained with a haughty expression. "What else could it be?"
The drow's face went still and he drew slightly closer to examine the rubies and diamonds that she held out for him to see. When she thought he was too close she pulled her hand back and eyed him shrewdly as she dropped them back in her pouch.
"Those are quality gems," the drow said with a calculating expression. "Just what do you want for them and your..services?"
"A ride to the next big drow city. Whichever one is closest." She added flipping her hair out of her face and trying not to let her face show her eagerness.
The drow watched her closely for a moment then turned. He paced for a moment, turned and then said. "Come, I think we can do business. The leader will want to have a look at you and your gems before we agree to your terms."
Vier nodded gulping nervously and then followed him towards the front of the caravan. He came to a stop at the back of the first wagon and lifted the flap of canvas that kept the dust out and waited for her to go in. Vierkacha looked around cautiously before wrapping one arm around her chest where Gem was hidden and the other went to the leg where her knife was stashed. Then she entered hoping that she hadn't just made the biggest mistake of her life.
She blinked at the sudden light inside the wagon and once her eyes adjusted she was astonished to see that the wagon leader was a rather slender effeminate looking male. His eerie blue eyes blinked and he frowned as eh looked past her to the drow who had followed her inside. "What's this?" He asked in a rather bored tone. "Why do you keep bringing me all these kids?"
The other drow laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "Illyss I have no idea why we keep getting kids, but this one's actually got a skill we might find useful. She claims to be able to find gems."
Illyss blinked and then looked at her, a rather skeptical look on his face. "Oh? Might I see some of these gems of yours?"
Vier nearly jumped out of her skin when Gem's head poked out of her shirt and blew a bit of steam at the reclining drow Illyss. "Get back in there you fool." She muttered pushing his head back down and fumbled with her pouch.
"You have a dragon as a pet? How unusual, " Illyss spoke, his eyes alighting on her more closely than before. "What's his name?"
"Gem, his name is Gem and he's not for sale." Vier retorted immediately. "Here, this is what I have." She said as she poured a handful into her palm. This time the giant sapphire escaped the confines of her pouch and joined some emeralds, rubies and diamonds.
Illyss let loose a purr of appreciation the moment he saw it, "May I hold it for a moment?" he breathed in rapture.
"You can have it if you will uphold a promise to take me to the next city." Vier said firmly, pulling her hand back from him.
Illyss let loose a curse, and ran his hand through his long hair and glared at the other drow who was laughing behind her. "You drive a hard bargain miss. What's your name?"
"Vierkacha Zau'ana." She replied and waited.
"Well Vier, then you shall have your ride, and for the price of the sapphire and the other gems you will have a place on one of the wagons. If you can hunt more gems down for us along the way, I will also give you some new clothing and as much food as you can eat." Illyss told her with a small bow of his head.
"Maybe I ought to hold on to the sapphire until the end of the trip to make sure you get me there in one piece. " She countered, eying him closely.
Illyss and the other drow laughed and then eyed her with what Vier thought might actually verge on annoyance and respect.
"You certainly know how to bargain. Tell you what, you let me have the sapphire now and give me the others later. How's that?"
Vier thought for a moment, shifting from one leg to the other then finally with a sigh, pulled the sapphire from her hand and looked at it once and shoved it down her shirt. "No. I don't think so. You can have these, and when Gem barfs up the sapphire I'll let you have it, how's that?" She held out the pouch of the other gems to him and waited as patiently as he could.
Illyss' face fell but he didn't move a muscle. "Fine. Just see to it that the dragon doesn't ruin it. Or'xyl take her to her wagon." He reached out and took the pouch muttering a curse under his breath.
"Don't be too pissed, " she told him turning back at the end of the wagon. "There's another sapphire in there nearly as big as the other one."
Illyss looked up with a shocked look on his face and then laughed. "You really do know how to bargain!"
Vier smiled and followed Or'xyl from the wagon feeling triumphant. Not only had she gotten what she wanted but she had managed to make the wagon leader like her. Her smile disappeared however when they came to a stop at a wagon near the end of the caravan. She tried not to look disappointed at being placed so far in the back and mustered up her spirits.
Her face fell when the canvas was thrown back and she spied boxes and bags of stuff in the back of the wagon. They expected her to travel in the back of a stuffed wagon? What were they thinking?! She turned to glare at Or'xyl and found that he was staring at her with an amused expression.
"What? Surely you didn't expect a private wagon? Come now, we're a caravan! Everyone has to share, we have limited space!"
"Fine, but if I get squashed by your supplies there's no way you're getting any more gems." Vier retorted and climbed into the wagon. She found an empty pallet and pulled it out onto the wagon bed so she'd have something to sit on and settled down as best as she could. Her stomach grumbled a bit and she turned to ask Or'xyl when dinner would be only to find him gone. "Great," She muttered. "No gems and no food." She sighed and tried to fall asleep. At least that was something she could do.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 10:01 pm
 Barely a few feet away from where the drow girl sat and tried to doze, a pair of green eyes watched her from between a pair of boxes, a sack of roots balanced precariously on top and sagging between them, just enough to obstruct the meager glow the pair of eyes gave off. The owner of the eyes, a positively tiny drow male dressed in oversized, shabby clothes, bit back a swear and reached up silently to adjust the too-large turban threatening to fall over his eyes. Maluit had hoped to hide here and travel with the caravan until they stopped at a more opportune place than the ruins of his own city, but now with someone 'sharing' the supply wagon with him, the trip was now looking to be uncomfortable for him, and inconvenient. He had taken to the road not hours before, his tiny bare feet making no more noise than a rat's on the bare stone of the path leading out to the Wilds. He hated the thought of leaving his city, decrepit cesspool that it was. There, he had been a somebody, the secret leader of one of the most successful group of thieves and malcontents that the fall of Ched Nasad had spawned as the years had gone by. Seldom seen by his inner circle and never seen at all by anyone else, he had been hidden away in a small room of the band's main building, given any luxury he asked for and using his unusually keen mind to ensure that things kept running smoothly. Several years of what Maluit had deemed to be hard work, all thrown away when he had felt the presence of an illithid entering the city, picking his gigantic mind out from the other sods like a plump mushroom growing out of a patch of soil moistened by the drip of cave waters. Of course to tell the others that a mind-flayer had taken interest would have resulted in either him being thought of as crazy, or as a liability, since he knew that it was he himself the creature was so interested in. Rather than expose himself to such ridicule and possibly even harm, Maluit had snuck off unawares, fleeing the city and the monster lurking within, hoping to find the means to start anew. The caravan's arrival had been tantalizing, the guards even seemed extra thick as Maluit used his turban's loose wrappings to hide his eyes while allowing him to see. His frail body gave off only a small bit of heat, if the guards even troubled themselves to look so low to the ground. He had carefully slipped into the very last wagon, loaded with supplies, and his little eyes had gleamed with greed and delight. He would sit back here, any noises he made would be drowned out by the creaking of the wheels and loose rocks, and he could help himself to what he pleased, knowing how to take just enough without arousing suspicion of something bigger than a rat attacking their cargo. The caravan would carry him safely to the next city, and there he would start a new band; one that was bigger and stronger, with so much more to offer to him in the way of subordinates than the survivors of a ruined city. But now a complication had arisen; the caravan had taken on a new passenger, and it seemed as though she would stay in this caravan for much of the trip. Suppose she heard him or found him out some other way! Unlike himself, she was an actual passenger, and he could not use the threat of exposing her as well should she find him. He had to think of something else quickly, just in case he was discovered. And the only way he could possibly find anything out was to watch her and observe everything she did. With any luck, he would be able to secure her cooperation, or at least threaten her with some sort of exposure; he doubted he could appeal to her sense of cleverness by telling her that he had a brain far advanced beyond his years and how useful it could be to her; people in his age group tended not to think so astutely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:17 pm
Vierkacha gritted her teeth as the wagon rattled and shifted from side to side. She swallowed back a bite of bile that came up her windpipe and put her head down on her knees. The constant lurching and rolling of the wagon train made her sick to her stomach but she wasn't about to show such a weakness around the crew. If she did she had no idea what they might do to her or force her to do.
By her estimate the wagon train had at least an hour or two before they stopped for the day. At first it had felt alike they had traveled for days on end before stopping but now that she had gotten used to it she could tell there was a timing to it. There were two meals a day, one when they broke for camp and one as they packed up the came and continued on the next morning. It was more than she had eaten before and it was still difficult to get used to.
The workers got a meal somewhere in the middle of the day that they munched on as they drove or worked. Vier had been offered this meal as well but she knew her body wouldn't be able to handle it with all the jostling. She probably would have lost it all over the inside of the wagon right after she had gotten it down.
She groaned, letting her hands go down to hold her stomach. Just thinking of food was enough oto cause it to lurch in protest. She hoped that soon it would learn to settle and not bother her as much.
Her eyelids slid shut for what seemed like a blink of a second and then all was still. A loud knock sounded on the back of the wagon causing her to jerk upright and fall into a box, hitting her shoulder with a loud "thwack". "Ouww, " she moaned and rubbed it turning her gaze to the back door.
Or'xyl was standing in the opening staring down at her with an odd expression on his face. "Illyss would like to see you."
Vier stretched out slightly and got to her feet slowly.
"Okay, beats sitting back here." She said with a shrug of indifference.
Or'xyl smiled and stepped down offering her a hand, Vier took it warily and stepped out of the wagon glad to finally get a chance to stetch her legs. She stopped in alarm when she realized the entire crew was staring at her.. What the heck was going on?
"Why is.." She began to ask.
"Come Vierkacha show us your jewel find skills." Illyss called back with a san impatient air.
Vier drew her arms around herself and the hidden puch where Gem her pet dragon was hidden. She raised her nose into the air and sniffed daintily for a moment, then poked Gem slightly with one finger. Gem stired and nipped her lightly on the chest. Vier winced as she strode past the leering adults hoping that no one noticed.
She felt Gem stir awake and then he poked his head out of her shirt and surveyed the ground closely. Vier pushed hsi head down when she heard someone come up behind her. Gem nipped her finger rather annoyed with her, drawing a small bead of blood from it.
Vier frowned and turned back to the wagon train and was s bit surprised when she felt a sort of "pull" on her towards the entrance of the cavern the wagons had b een going to enter. She wasn'ts ure what it was that enticed her and why it felt as if she were being directed by a strange force of power. Perhaps she actually had the gift she had been pretending to have.
No silly drow momma. It's me dragon baby. Came a sudden high pitched voice in her head. Vier nearly panicked realizing it was Gem who was pulling on her.
Why are you pulling me this way? She questioned.
Big gems, to make biggies happy drow momma. Came the reply.
Big? How Big?
There was a long moment of silence as though Gem were thinking of how to answer.
Bigger than my egg.
Vier's eyes widened remembering how big Gem's egg had been.
Where are they? Close?
In tunnel, in walls.
Vier strode over to the cavern and reached out to touch the walls and examing htem. She could barely make out the faint red hue of a ruby about the size of her head. There were also some green and blue shades further down the wall.
"Here's a ruby, and some sapphires and emeralds." She called and turned to look back over her shoulder at the drow behind her.
Illyss and Or'xyl were standing behind her and looked rather impressed and a bit eager to start picking away at the walls.
Gold, gold be here too! Gem moaned wiggling against her excitedly.
"Oh and some gold too." She added. Why so excited? She questioned Gem.
Gem neaver tasted Gold, Gem wants!
Then I shall get you some. Vier promised.
Illyss looked rather pleased with this news. Vier couldn't help but notice he looked rather smug and pleased at her find. Vier knew knew that Illyss would use her as much as she allowed..and that if she wasn't careful he might go so far as keeping her with him for much longer than she wanted.
"Where's the ruby?" Asked Illyss coming over to look over the walls.
Vier blinked, the red hue was right in front of him. How come he could't see it? Was he blind or something?
I Let you see what I can see drow momma. Gem replied rubbing his scaley head against her.
Vier was astonished at this. How was it possible for such a thing to work? Didn't a creature have to learn how to do something like that before doing it? Was magic and such abilities ingrained into them before they were even born?
Drow momma silly, magic is magic. Its everywhere. Its in drow momma, dragon baby just opened it for momma.
Vierkacha found a piece of rock and proceeded to mark each area where a gem would be located in the walls. It took her quite awhile with how many there were. When she was done she took a look around the cavern wall and blinked in surprise. The marks made up a pattern, which seemed rather weird. Usually gems weren't in patterns..let alone one so ornate.
"Perhaps we shouldn't mess with the wall just yet," Or'xyl said peering around at the walls. "It looks like if we start digging we'll destroy the wall and not be able to get through."
Illyss grunted in annoyance but left the cave without arguing. "Get ready to move men, we'll take the caravan through and then come back to get out the gems and the gold."
Vierkacha made her way back to her wagon and nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand came down on her shoulder. She whirled around, her eyes drawn tight and her hand going for her hidden dagger.
"Relax, I was just going to offer you the chance to walk with me. Riding in the back of the wagon must be getting annoying." Or'xyl said, pulling his hand back and pushing his hair back out of his face.
Vier relaxed a bit and smiled. "I would very much like that. The lurching is starting to give me a headache."
Or'xyl shot her a knowing smile. "Yes, so it does. Illyss has that same problem. Come, you can help me lead the wagons through."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
